blues and stuff

Haverstick here...God help my deteriorating brain cells, But Harold
Fortuin just left a post that, I believe, mentioned something about
checking out different forms of music in microtonal tunings. Hope
I'm in the ballpark, but it still got me to thinking about some ideas
I'm working with. First, my friend Richard Krantz came up with a bunch
of cool 11 note scales for 19 tone/eq, so I figured out the chords that
go with each degree of the scale...some are familiar, some are really
out there. It gives me many directions to go in 19, and of course can
lead into complex, bop type 19 tone pieces. In fact, I've rearranged
Coltrane's
masterpiece "Giant Steps" for 19 tone, and it is one tough tune to play.
I've also written several jazzy 19 tone pieces, and would be glad to
send a tape to anyone who's curious. I am also planning a piece (most
likely a long 'un) around the cycle of 3rds in 34/eq. If you start going
up by major 3rds in 34, you must go around a whole cycle of 34 different
notes before you come back to 1. Think of the vastness of the variations
contained in working out a chord progression on this movement. As always,
I'm more concerned with if I can create a piece with some deep meaning
than I am the tuning itself.
Also, Gary Morrison mentioned something about the chordal movement in
blues. Basically, and only very basically, blues starts with a structure
of 3 dominant 7th chords...in C, this is C7-F7-G7. Having all dominants
is a hoot, because there's never any real resolution to the tonic as in
"Western" rules where you get the restfullness of a Major 7th chord.
Believe me, I've been messing with blues for 30 years, and the variaitons
are truly staggering...there are many ways to alter and move this chord
progression around.
The scale is also fascinating because it gives you so little to grab onto,
and it can be added onto in many various ways. In C, the blues scale
would be: C-Eb-F-F#-G-Bb...this is already a trip because remember, we're
sort of "pitting" this weird ass scale against a dominant chord...the
C7th chord, of course, has an E natural for a 3rd, and a G nat. as the
5th. Yet, the scale has a FLAT 3rd and a FLAT 5th as well as the nat.5th.
And, if you write out the notes in all 3 dominant chords and compare them
to the scale, it really makes no logical sense as to how this scale can
"fit" these chords...yet, it does, and much more as well.
Ah, but the tough thing to swallow is this...the blues scale, as it is,
is only part of the deal. Many blues players routinely add the major 6th
and the major 3rd to their runs, as well as the 2nd (or 9th). Also, they
may actually start using different blues related scales as well, in other
words, when they switch chords they'll use the scale of THAT chord, so
the pot gets even thicker.
Then, there are so may styles of blues, from the Muddy Waters Delta voodoo
stuff, to the industrial strength punch of the Chicago schoo;, to the
big band changes of Count Basie blues, to the absolutely amazing changes
of Charley Parker and the boppers. To truly understand the blues is a life-
long pursuit, and I am convinced that the way to reach Joe Public with
microtones is through this music...blues was the fire of the whole 1960's
rock movement, and some truly lasting music was produced out of this
era. By using 19 and other tunings to alter "traditional" blues and
country truisms, a whole new music is appearing...it sounds familiar,
but is obviously something else than it was. The proof is simple...just
try and play some 19 tone blues changes, where the time is changing almost
every measure...it takes all of your favorite riffs and distorts them;
it is very difficult music to nail.
Enough for now...Hstick

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